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Kevin Youkilis
Kevin Edmund Youkilis (born on March 15, 1979, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American baseball player who plays Third baseman for the New York Yankees . He bats and throws right-handed. An all-star and gold glove first baseman, Youkilis began his career as a third baseman and has spent time at second base and left field in the major leagues, earning him praise for his versatility. He occasionally fills in at 3rd base when Mike Lowell is injured, or to allow DH David Ortiz to play 1st base in interleague games. Youkilis is a Red Sox fan favorite, and fans are known to chant "Yoooooouk" when he comes up to the plate or makes a play in the field at times. He is also the Red Sox players' representative. He currently holds the professional baseball record for consecutive errorless games at first base. Youkilis is undisputedly one of the greatest Jewish major league baseball players of all-time. Early life Kevin Youkilis was the son of a jewelry wholesaler. At the age of 14, he had one line in the 1994 romantic comedy "Milk Money," which starred Melanie Griffith and was filmed in Youkilis' hometown of Cincinnati. He attended Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, where he was a member of the 1994 AAU National Champion baseball team. He attended the University of Cincinnati, where he set school records for home runs (53), slugging percentage (.627) and On-Base Percentage (.499). He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 2001 amateur draft, in the 8th round (243rd overall). Professional career 2001 Youkilis made his professional debut for the Class Short-A Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn League, as a catcher. He went on to hit for .317 with scored 58 runs in 59 games He was later promoted to the Class Low-A Augusta GreenJackets of the South Atlantic League, where he played five games. 2002 In 2002, Youkilis appeared in 15 games for Augusta, before being promoted to the Sarasota Sox and later the, Trenton Thunder. He was awarded the 2002 Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year honors for his .316 average, 8 home runs, and 80 runs batted in between the three teams. 2003 Youkilis started the 2003 season with the AA Portland Sea Dogs, where he earned a spot on the 2003 Eastern League All-Star team. Later in the season, he was promoted to AAA Pawtucket. Between the two teams, Youkilis reached base in 71 consecutive games, tying the minor league record previously held by Kevin Millar. Youkilis was also mentioned in the 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis. In the book Lewis refers to Youkilis as "Euclis: The Greek God of Walks" and reveals that Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane tried to trade for Youkilis multiple times throughout his minor league career. 2004 In 2004, Youkilis started the season with the Pawtucket Red Sox, but was called up on May 15, when Red Sox starting third baseman Bill Mueller was placed on the disabled list. He started his first major league game at third base, and was 2-4 in the game. In his second major league at-bat, Youkilis hit a home run off 1996 Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen, for his first major league hit. When returning to the dugout, Youkilis was greeted with the silent treatment. He proceeded to slap hands with invisible teammates, before his teammates gave in and congratulated him. Later in the year, Youkilis opted not to play in a game that took place on Yom Kippur, the most important Jewish holiday. Youkilis was a member of the ALDS roster, and was 0 for 2 in part of Game 2 at 3rd base in the sweep vs. athe Angels but was replaced on the ALCS roster by reliever Ramiro Mendoza, thereby missing the historic 2004 ALCS. Youkilis was added to the World Series roster after the Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees in seven games, and, though he did not make it into a World Series game, received a World Series ring after the Red Sox won the championship. 2005 Youkilis spent 2005 splitting time between Pawtucket and Boston. He began the season on the opening day roster for the first time in his career, but only played in one game before being optioned to Pawtucket when Curt Schilling was activated from the 15-day disabled list on April 13. He was recalled on April 30 and remained with the team until July 10. His third stint began on July 18, but lasted only two days, as he was sent down on July 20 without seeing action in a game. He was recalled yet again on August 8, only to be sent back down on August 16. He was recalled for the fifth and final time on August 31, one day before the roster expanded to 40 players. He finished the season hitting .278 with a .400 On-base percentage in just 79 at-bats over his 5 separate stints with the Red Sox. Youkilis also saw 4.68 pitches per at-bat, more than any other Red Sox player with at least 50 plate appearances. During the season he played 9 games at first base and one game at second base, neither of which he had played before in the majors. Mark Bellhorn's lackluster performance at second base led many to call for Youkilis to become the starting second baseman, however, many cited his lack of range and experience at the position as why this should not happen. A midseason trade for Tony Graffanino and the subsequent release of Bellhorn made the discussion irrelevant. 2006 With the departure of Kevin Millar, and the arrival of Mike Lowell to play third base, Youkilis became the starting first baseman for the Red Sox in 2006, a position he has held ever since. Also during that season, Youkilis played 18 games in left field, the first time he had played the outfield in his professional career. That year he ranked in the American League top ten for walks (91), doubles (42), sacrifice flies (11), and pitches per at-bat (4.42). He also had a .375 AVG with runners in scoring position and two outs. 2007 During the 2007 season, Youkilis had a career high 23-game hitting streak, which lasted from May 5 to June 2, during which he hit .426 with 6 HR and 21 RBI. During the streak he had 9-straight games with at least 2 hits (tying the Red Sox record set by Jim Rice) and became the first Red Sox player since Trot Nixon to hit an inside-the-park home run. On May 20, Youkilis hit the shortest home run in Red Sox history, a 321-foot shot that wrapped around Pesky's Pole. The hit would not have been a home run in any of the 29 other Major League ballparks. The streak ended on June 2, when Youkilis walked 3 times in an 11-6 win over the New York Yankees. Youkilis had trouble with the Yankees and being hit by pitches in 2007. On June 1, Youkilis was struck on his helmet by a 94 mph fastball thrown by Yankees pitcher Scott Proctor. Proctor was ejected from the game for the incident. On August 8, Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain was ejected following a pair of pitches thrown over Youkilis' head. Chamberlain was later suspended two games for his actions. On September 15, Youkilis was struck on the right wrist by a pitch thrown by Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang. Youkilis left the game, and did not play until September 25, pinch-hitting for Eric Hinske in the 5th inning. During the 2007 season, Youkilis did not make a single error at first base. On June 25, Youkilis played in his 120th consecutive game at first base without an error, breaking the prior Red Sox record set in 1921 by Stuffy McInnis. On September 7, he played in his 179th consecutive game at first base without an error, which broke the prior American League record set in 1973 by Mike Hegan. Youkilis' streak at the end of the regular season was 190 games; while he was charged with a fielding error in the sixth inning of an October 16, 2007, playoff game against the Cleveland Indians, postseason games are not included in the record. Therefore, early in the 2008 season, Youkilis could break the Major League record of 193 consecutive error-free games, held by Steve Garvey. He won the 2007 American League Gold Glove Award at first base. 2008 In February, the Red Sox signed Youkilis to a one-year, $3 million contract, avoiding arbitration, something general manager Theo Epstein has managed to do with every arbitration-eligible player during his tenure. Prior to the season, Youkilis' position as the Red Sox players' representative was revealed during a dispute over the non-payment of the coaches that would be traveling with the team to Japan, where the Red Sox would begin the season playing two games against the Oakland Athletics. The dispute arose after the coaches realized that they would not be receiving a bonus for traveling to Japan, as the players would. Youkilis and the Red Sox threatened not to play, however, the dispute was resolved before it came to that. On June 7, Youkilis made his first error at first base since July 4, 2006, breaking the major league record string of 238 errorless games at that position. He ended the season with four errors in 2,002 chances at first base, fifth best among AL qualifiers. From July 12 to September 10, Youkilis successfully reached base by either a hit, walk, or hit by pitch, in 44 consecutive games, the longest such streak in the majors that year. This was the longest such streak by a member of the Red Sox since Wade Boggs reached base in 57 consecutive games in 1985. Youkilis was named an American League All-Star for the first time in 2008, the first year he was featured on the ballot. Previously, David Ortiz had been the Red Sox representative at first base, as the game had been held in National League parks for the past two years. After the Red Sox traded Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Youkilis became the clean-up hitter, a role in which he excelled. Youkilis had a breakout season in 2008, .312 with 29 home runs and 115 RBIs. His excellent statistics made him one of the top candidates for the American League Most Valuable Player Award. He eventually finished third, behind teammate and Dustin Pedroia and Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau. The top 5 were rounded out by Twins catcher Joe Mauer and Chicago White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin. He also led all American League qualifiers in at-bats per RBI with an RBI every 4.68 at-bats. He placed third in the league in multi-RBI games, with 32, behind Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers (40) and Morneau (33). 2009 Youkilis, along with teammate Dustin Pedroia represented the United States in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. However, Youkilis was forced to return to the Red Sox spring training facility in Fort Myers, Florida when he severely sprained his ankle. He wore a boot for a week, before returning to baseball activities. Youkilis got of to a very good start in 2009, batting .429 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI in his first 15 games. Youkilis was the hero of the fist Yankee-Red Sox Game played in 2009. Youkilis had a 1-out single off Mariano Rivera in the 9th inning. and scored on a 2-out home run by Jason Bay, which tied the score at 4-4. Youkilis then connected for the game-winning home run with 1-out in the 11th inning off Damaso Marte, to give the Red Sox a 5-4 win. This started a streak of 8 consecutive Red Sox wins over the Yankees through July, 2009. It was also the only save opportunity of the season blown by Mariano Rivera in more than 30 opportunities through August, 2009. He missed some time because of injury, but made the AL All_Star squad, though edged out in the final stages of the balloting by Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees for the starting role. 2010 Youkilis was again the Red Sox starting first baseman in 2010. In Boston's 2010 opener against the New York Yankees on April 4, Youkilis had three extra-base hits (two doubles and a triple) in four at bats, scoring the go-ahead run in the Red Sox's comeback 9–7 victory. On May 18, 2010, Youkilis hit his 100th career home run off Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia. As of July 6, Youkilis was leading the major leagues in runs scored (66), ranked 2nd in the AL in walks (51), 3rd in on base percentage (.416) and triples (5), 4th in slugging percentage (.586), OPS (1.002), and extra base hits (41), 5th in extra base hits (41), 6th in hit by pitch (7), 7th in home runs (17), 8th in RBIs (55), and 9th in total bases (163), while batting .299 in 278 at bats, but was edged out in the Final Vote campaign for the 34th and final spot on the 2010 American League All-Star Team by New York Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher. There was a massive "Get Out The Vote" campaign in both Boston and New York. On August 5, Youkilis injured his thumb taking a swing during a game with the Cleveland Indians. He was diagnosed with a torn abductor muscle, and underwent season-ending surgery on August 6 in Cleveland. Dr. Thomas Graham performed both the evaluation and the surgery. Mike Lowell replaced Youkilis in the lineup as the starting first baseman. On August 7, the Red Sox signed Carlos Delgado, who had not played in the majors since May, 2009, to a minor league contract, hoping he form a righty/lefty platoon with Lowell, a right-hander. 2012 During the 2012 season, Youkilis was traded to the Chicago White Sox for OF Brent Lillibridge and pitcher Zach Stewart. Category:Living people Category:1979 births Category:Lowell Spinners players Category:Augusta GreenJackets players Category:Sarasota Red Sox players Category:Trenton Thunder players Category:Portland Sea Dogs players Category:Pawtucket Red Sox players Category:Boston Red Sox players Category:Major League Baseball players Category:Major League Baseball first basemen Category:First Basemen Category:Players Category:Third Basemen Category:Left Fielders Category:Outfielders Category:Players from Ohio Category:Chicago White Sox players